By Eleanor Francis

Where do babies come from? Most teens know the answer to this. What most teens do not know is the extent of the health risk they take on when a doctor prescribes hormonal contraceptives in the form of the pill, the patch, or an injection. Ok, so not all teens are taking the pill for what you might think. Maybe she’s taking the birth control pill for irregular periods or to control acne, and, like one teenager, suffers heart attacks as a result of the medication (Gladdis). Whatever the reason, she still faces a bigger health risk than she is led to think.

Class, pay attention: medicine is big business. So–surprise, surprise– the pharmacy companies downplay the health risks associated with hormonal contraception and doctors tend to accept pharmaceutical company studies. A recent finding reported that Bayer, maker of Yasmin, the birth control pill marketed specifically to teens, failed to include in their FDA report an–oh, by the way– increased incidence of blood clots from this third generation birth control pill (Silverman, “Recently,” Kessler). In Europe, there have been cases that led the Swiss to seek damages on behalf of a patient and the French to restrict its use (“Swiss”). Teens considering taking a hormonal contraceptive should not rely on studies sponsored by the drug companies. Yet in many cases, these are the studies that get the most attention, whereas independent studies exposing problems are dismissed. The pharmaceutical company’s phony or biased study is typically cited to make it seem the independent studies are inconclusive. Risk is a just a part of life, right?

A quick Google search reveals a large number of lawsuits against Bayer’s Yasmin pill as well as their other hormonal contraceptive, Mirena (“Mirena”). Apparently, profits exceed the costs associated with both trials and payouts to women injured by hormonal contraceptives. Having been introduced way back in 1960, the devastating effects of the pill are now more fully evident, yet it is still prescribed routinely, and big cities such as New York want to provide teens with wider access to the pill and RU 486. Like a secret that must be so hush hush, the huge risks of hormonal contraceptives are glossed rather than explained to girls as young as twelve. Why are WHO classified class 1 carcinogenic hormonal contraceptives passed out to teens like candy? The governor of New York is planning to introduce the Reproductive Health Act with the Commission for Reproductive Health Service Standards. In a recent video, Dr. Joel Brind, professor of Biology and Endocrinology at Baruch College, compared the hormonal contraceptives to the steroids given to athletes and are similarly harmful to the health of young women.

As Dr. Brind points out in this video, teen girls are being given steroids just like athletes; only in the case of athletic competition, steroids are universally condemned. So why are young females routinely placed on steroids even though our society condemns giving athletes steroids? Contraceptives and abortion are causing health issues that often go unreported in the interest of maintaining wide availability of hormonal contraception and abortion. According to George Lundberg, M.D., the American Medical Association maintains silence on the issue as too political, thus failing to produce a policy statement on the cancer risks associated with contraceptives and abortion (qtd. in Malec 43). What’s up with that?

Check this: the very organizations who should be sounding an alarm have been silent. The American Cancer Society, for instance, has given money to Planned Parenthood, America’s largest abortion provider—and duh, the abortion breast cancer link has been well established by the majority of studies over the last fifty plus years (Daling, Brind, Lanfranchi). They have continued the spiel that Planned Parenthood is all good like it delivers babies, does mammograms, and has programs for smoking cessation (Stone, Stanek). Maybe it takes a teen to see through sixties feminism turned all pro-abort, and recognize that the emperor is naked, but the National Cancer Institute, as well as the Susan G. Komen for the Cure, got royally reamed and bullied–as we all saw live and in real time on Twitter–by this same Planned Parenthood that now can’t be bothered to warn women of the cancer risks.

In the above video, Eve Sanchez Silver, Medical Research Analyst, Founder & Executive Director of Clear Research and Cinta Latina Research, explains that a young woman, whose mother has not yet developed breast cancer, may not even be aware that she could be in greater jeopardy because of the abortion-breast cancer link. A teen is going in blind as to her real risk.

Given the nonstop evidence declaring estrogen a world class cancer-causing agent, it is mind boggling to see a women’s health website present a “Don’t worry; be happy” outlook toward hormonal contraceptives. Yet, that is exactly what Boston Children’s Hospital does when it blithely declares: “Most experts believe that taking the Pill does not cause any increased risk of getting breast cancer. Even girls with a family history of breast cancer can take the Pill” (“Birth”). Really? Not according to 70 studies dating back to 1957 (“Epidemiologic,” Ertelt, “Abortion”). Exposing young women to carcinogens, according to Dr. Sherrill Sellman, shuts off their normal menstrual cycle; depletes their bodies of nutrients and vital minerals; and increases bone loss, infertility, depression, blood clots, stroke, and serious incidents such as breast cancer (Sellman).

The fact that girls are reaching puberty earlier than in the past places them at a heightened breast cancer risk than other women. In fact, Dr. David Zava, a biochemist and an experienced breast cancer researcher, says the fact that girls are reaching puberty sooner than in the past means they are more vulnerable than other women to getting breast cancer: “Puberty is a time when there are more undeveloped breast cells (stem cells) that are vulnerable to cancer-causing agents such as chemicals, viruses, radiation, and estrogens.” At earlier periods of history, young women typically married and began having children soon after reaching puberty. Pregnancy confers protection against cancer in the form of pregnancy hormones like estriol, yet the promotion of hormonal contraceptives like candy both encourages earlier risky behavior and delays to-term pregnancy. According to Dr. David Zava, “On top of early puberty you have teenage girls using hormonal contraceptives very early on. And yet multiple studies have shown that use of hormonal contraceptives in young girls increases their risk of developing breast cancer by as much as six times” (Zava). Moreover, as Eve Sanchez Silver points out, some of a girl’s family or inherited risk factors would not have been identified yet at the time she agreed to take steroids or have an abortion.

Steroids put teen girls at risk for a long list of side effects, among which is not only things like migraines and depression but also high blood pressure and blood clots because the blood is thickened– as noted in the package warnings that nobody reads. Instead, people rely on ads and doctors that gloss over the health risks. Sometimes our parents briefly check out misleading web sites that supposedly offer advice. Boston Children’s Hospital web site, for instance, erroneously states: “There is no increase in the risk of heart attack or stroke in healthy young women who take birth control pills and don’t smoke” (“Birth”). ‘Scuse me? There are well-documented risks from synthetic estrogen and progestin, and chief among them is the increased risk of blood clots (Hannaford, Manand). From their first appearance, “Hormonal contraceptives have been repeatedly linked to increased risks of cardiovascular disease, cervical, liver and breast cancer, blood clots, elevated blood pressure, bladder disease, inflammatory bowel disease, sexual dysfunction and stroke in women” (Balinski).

Steroids make the heart work harder, so it’s not surprising girls are now getting high blood pressure like never before. One report indicated that the substantial differences in blood pressure found in the study due to oral contraceptive use by teen girls “are likely to significantly affect their risk of both ischemic heart disease and stroke in adulthood.” (qtd. in Balinski). In an article called “Hormonal Contraceptive Use Among Adolescent Girls in Germany in Relation to Health Behavior and Biological Cardiovascular Risk Factors,” scientists found that when teenage girls who already have a propensity toward risky behavior are placed on hormonal contraceptives, they exhibit an increased risk of cardiovascular problems (Du).

One concern is that those taking certain oral contraceptives may “have exposure to an agent that is reducing blood vessel flexibility, because it could be associated with the development of heart disease or related problems” (Dr. Kaplan qtd. in “Certain”). In India, where steroids are sold without a prescription, doctors are noticing an increase in deep vein thrombosis (DVT), a vascular disease, “diagnosed through a host of symptoms that include pain in the chest, swelling and pain in muscles and legs, and pulmonary or heart-related complications” (“Contraceptive”). Although it is argued that overpopulation as well as the number of unplanned pregnancies justify over the counter sales in the States, others point out that access to contraception has not decreased the number of abortions as people assume (Ertelt). They also point to the fact that hormonal contraceptives put teens at greater risk for STDs (“Hormonal”). Based on the combined risks and negative side effects of hormonal contraceptives, it’s no wonder teens typically quit taking them. We know better than to take poison. Once upon a time, our parents knew it too.